"Like humans, all dairy cows must give birth in
order to begin producing milk. Dairy cows are artificially impregnated while
they are still lactating from their previous birthing, so their bodies are
always producing milk. The calves that are born female are raised to replace
exhausted dairy cows. The calves that are male are slaughtered and used for
veal."

Traditional small dairies, located primarily in the Northeast and Midwest,
are going out of business. They are being replaced by intensive 'dry lot'
dairies, which are typically located in the Southwest U.S.

Regardless of where they live, however, all dairy cows must give birth in
order to begin producing milk. Today, dairy cows are forced to have a calf
every year. Like human beings, cows have a nine-month gestation period, and so
giving birth every twelve months is physically demanding. The cows are also
artificially re-impregnated while they are still lactating from their previous
birthing, so their bodies are continually producing milk during their nine-month pregnancy.

With genetic manipulation and intensive production technologies, it is
common for modern dairy cows to produce 100 pounds of milk a day — ten times
more than they would produce naturally. As a result, the cows' bodies are
under constant stress, and they are at risk for numerous health problems.

Approximately half of the country's dairy cows suffer
from mastitis, a bacterial infection of their udders. This is such a
common and costly ailment that a dairy industry group, the National
Mastitis Council, was formed specifically to combat the disease. Other
diseases, such as Bovine Leukemia Virus, Bovine Immunodeficiency
Virus, and Johne's disease (whose human counterpart is Crohn's
disease) are also rampant on modern dairies, but they commonly go
unnoticed because they are either difficult to detect or have a long
incubation period.

A cow eating a normal grass diet could not produce milk at the
abnormal levels expected on modern dairies, and so today's dairy cows must be
given high energy feeds. The unnaturally rich diet causes metabolic disorders
including ketosis, which can be fatal, and laminitis, which causes lameness.

Another dairy industry disease caused by intensive milk production is
"Milk Fever." This ailment is caused by calcium deficiency, and it
occurs when milk secretion depletes calcium faster than it can be replenished
in the blood.

In a healthy environment, cows would live in excess of twenty-five years, but
on modern dairies, they are slaughtered and made into ground beef after just
three or four years. The abuse wreaked upon the bodies of dairy cows is so
intense that the dairy industry also is a huge source of "downed
animals" — animals who are so sick or injured that they are unable to
walk even stand. Investigators have documented downed animals routinely being
beaten, dragged, or pushed with bulldozers in attempts to move them to
slaughter.

Although the dairy industry is familiar with the cows' health problems and
suffering associated with intensive milk production, it continues to subject
cows to even worse abuses in the name of increased profit. Bovine Growth
Hormone (BGH), a synthetic hormone, is now being injected into cows to get
them to produce even more milk. Besides adversely affecting the cows' health,
BGH also increases birth defects in their calves.

Calves born to dairy cows are separated from their mothers immediately after
birth. The half that are born female are raised to replace older dairy cows in
the milking herd. The other half of the calves are male, and because they will
never produce milk, they are raised and slaughtered for veal.

The veal industry was created as a by-product of the dairy
industry to take advantage of an abundant supply of unwanted male calves. Veal
calves commonly live for eighteen to twenty weeks in wooden crates that are so
small that they cannot turn around, stretch their legs, or even lie down
comfortably. The calves are fed a liquid milk substitute, deficient in iron
and fiber, which is designed to make the animals anemic, resulting in the
light-colored flesh that is prized as veal. In addition to this high-priced
veal, some calves are killed at just a few days old to be sold as low-grade
'bob' veal for products like frozen TV dinners.